I joined the Dark Brotherhood, which is sadly changed from Oblivion. They've hit a major decline and live in a cave now and only have five or six members. They no longer follow the Five Tenants and don't even get their jobs from the Night Mother anymore. Though, there are hints that that last bit is going to change. There is a word wall in their HQ though. I don't recall the word right now, but it calls nearby animals to aid you in battle. You also get a pretty decent set of light armor for joining. There are some alternate pieces sitting on a shelf too, so you basically get two sets of armor.

On the topic of WTF moments, I was out exploring around Riften and got attacked by a Troll, nothing too terrible, just need to be careful. In the middle of the fight some random NPC comes up to me and starts talking to me, getting me stuck in a conversation scene. The whole time the troll is beating on me. I died.

I joined the Dark Brotherhood, which is sadly changed from Oblivion. They've hit a major decline and live in a cave now and only have five or six members. They no longer follow the Five Tenants and don't even get their jobs from the Night Mother anymore. Though, there are hints that that last bit is going to change. There is a word wall in their HQ though. I don't recall the word right now, but it calls nearby animals to aid you in battle. You also get a pretty decent set of light armor for joining. There are some alternate pieces sitting on a shelf too, so you basically get two sets of armor.

Can you get to that word wall without joining the brotherhood? In Oblivion, you couldn't enter their sanctuary until you had joined (the secret entrances wouldn't even appear).

I joined the Dark Brotherhood, which is sadly changed from Oblivion. They've hit a major decline and live in a cave now and only have five or six members. They no longer follow the Five Tenants and don't even get their jobs from the Night Mother anymore. Though, there are hints that that last bit is going to change. There is a word wall in their HQ though. I don't recall the word right now, but it calls nearby animals to aid you in battle. You also get a pretty decent set of light armor for joining. There are some alternate pieces sitting on a shelf too, so you basically get two sets of armor.

Can you get to that word wall without joining the brotherhood? In Oblivion, you couldn't enter their sanctuary until you had joined (the secret entrances wouldn't even appear).

If you can find the sanctuary and know the password Silence, my brother., you might be able to get in without joining. But you'd have pretty good fight on your hands when you get in. Someone sent one of them after me for whatever reason, and it was a good bit tougher of a fight than your average bandit. Oddly enough, having a contract out on me had no effect on my ability to join them. That wasn't the last time someone tried to have me killed. I haven't really wronged anyone so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

I joined the Dark Brotherhood, which is sadly changed from Oblivion. They've hit a major decline and live in a cave now and only have five or six members. They no longer follow the Five Tenants and don't even get their jobs from the Night Mother anymore. Though, there are hints that that last bit is going to change. There is a word wall in their HQ though. I don't recall the word right now, but it calls nearby animals to aid you in battle. You also get a pretty decent set of light armor for joining. There are some alternate pieces sitting on a shelf too, so you basically get two sets of armor.

Can you get to that word wall without joining the brotherhood? In Oblivion, you couldn't enter their sanctuary until you had joined (the secret entrances wouldn't even appear).

If you can find the sanctuary and know the password Silence, my brother., you might be able to get in without joining. But you'd have pretty good fight on your hands when you get in. Someone sent one of them after me for whatever reason, and it was a good bit tougher of a fight than your average bandit. Oddly enough, having a contract out on me had no effect on my ability to join them. That wasn't the last time someone tried to have me killed. I haven't really wronged anyone so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

I suppose that, without having to honor the Mother, they don't need to care about leaving missions unfinished. Which might explain why they are in such a bad position now.

And I'm fine with it being a hard fight. I'm just hoping it's possible to get the word.

I find it odd that they would place that one there, though. You'd think they'd make it one at least some way associated with assassins.

I picked it up today and started to play. So far just about an hour in, which was enough time to make my character and get through the "learning the game" beginning quest.

My friends from work are going to hate me though, since I'll be playing Skyrim instead of MW3 with them. They already rag on one guy who decided to get Skyrim instead. And while I have MW3, they'll see me online playing Skyrim instead.

Dude FPS shooter frag fests are soooo droll. Those games are for the unwashed masses. (I keed I keed I have freinds who love them as well.. but they are not as awesomely smart and sophisticated as me, true story)

In other news I just wanted to add that as a heavy armor SnB Nord bears have never been a problem. I pretty much ownerize them like any other physical attack opponent. But since I have invested 0 in destructive magic (theme character) sometimes it takes me a while with my bow to bring down a dragaon so that I can get him to land in sword range.

My one hand sword damage is sick though. Once I get them down with the fire enchantment and my specialized sword build it's game over.

____________________________

An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

Dude FPS shooter frag fests are soooo droll. Those games are for the unwashed masses. (I keed I keed I have freinds who love them as well.. but they are not as awesomely smart and sophisticated as me, true story)

In other news I just wanted to add that as a heavy armor SnB Nord bears have never been a problem. I pretty much ownerize them like any other physical attack opponent. But since I have invested 0 in destructive magic (theme character) sometimes it takes me a while with my bow to bring down a dragaon so that I can get him to land in sword range.

My one hand sword damage is sick though. Once I get them down with the fire enchantment and my specialized sword build it's game over.

What perks are you using to make this build so good? I've got basically the same character, and though I do all right, I feel pretty underpowered. Have about 60 skill in one-handed right now, maybe 45 in blocking.

Loving the game so far. As soon as I was out of the beginning area, I went to Falkreath instead of Riverwood. Messed around there, completing a bunch of quests; was disappointed that there was no option to buy a house in the town, though. By the end of all that I saved up 5000 gold for the one in Whiterun, so I continued the story; now I'm at the point where I need to find the Graybeards. Part of me REAAAAAALLY wants to do it so I can get better Shouts, but I also enjoy just putzing around doing quests. I still have about half of the quests left in Whiterun. Thoughts so far, with spoilery goodness

1. What's up with werewolves? In Falkreath I got a quest to talk to a guy in prison who ripped apart a little girl; turns out he's a wolf, and gave me a cursed ring. A hop, skip, and a Daedra prince later, I got the ring off, killed the werewolf, and got a nice piece of light armor. But he couldn't control his transformations, and seemed to imply no werewolves could. Then I get to Whiterun and progres through the Companions' line to the point where they forcefeed me blood... now I'm a werewolf. But the Companions can control it? Hmmmm...

2. My experience with partymates so far has been reluctantly positive. I like Lydia too much to use her; I feel like she'll get killed. So I bought a dog from Markareth, and that's working pretty well (except it barks a lot). But he keeps pushing me into awkward spots; and I can't move him out of the way, nor can I make him a packmule like a humanoid companion. Anyone have thoughts a good, reliable, thoroughly disposable sellsword?

3. As said above, I'm going sword and board, for a few reasons. First, it's relatively easy. Second, I got some decent weapons through early quests and the Companions' giving me a Skyforge sword. But I feel like a one-trick pony. I haven't been able to level up my Destruction magic worth a **** (****, any magic besides restoration). In Oblivion, I played a battlemage that used a combination of elemental weakness spells, long-range casts, and hand-range insta-kills. I hardly ever swung a sword. Can you make your own spells in Skyrim as well?

4. I could use some recommendations on what to focus on when it comes to smithing, mining, and alchemy (the three things I've actually gone out of my way for thus far). Smithing hasn't been bad, except I've only found iron, orichalcum, and gold deposits so far. And while the items aren't bad, I'm finding the exact same on enemies... making me think that enchanting would be much more useful than smithing. Alchemy I'm just lost; I've found a ton of Nirnroot and am hoarding it like a squirrel hoards acorns because it was so **** rare in Oblivion. But from what I've seen, crops regrow and nodes respawn... so should I just experiment? I feel like health potions and potions of strength (for more carrying capacity) would be best right now...?

2. My experience with partymates so far has been reluctantly positive. I like Lydia too much to use her; I feel like she'll get killed. So I bought a dog from Markareth, and that's working pretty well (except it barks a lot). But he keeps pushing me into awkward spots; and I can't move him out of the way, nor can I make him a packmule like a humanoid companion. Anyone have thoughts a good, reliable, thoroughly disposable sellsword?

There's a quest in Dawnstar to cure the people of the nightmares they've been having (lolDarkrai). It's a fun quest, and at the end (if you choose not to kill him) you can pick up a mage companion who also does pretty good melee damage. His accent's annoying, though.

Quote:

3. As said above, I'm going sword and board, for a few reasons. First, it's relatively easy. Second, I got some decent weapons through early quests and the Companions' giving me a Skyforge sword. But I feel like a one-trick pony. I haven't been able to level up my Destruction magic worth a **** (****, any magic besides restoration). In Oblivion, I played a battlemage that used a combination of elemental weakness spells, long-range casts, and hand-range insta-kills. I hardly ever swung a sword. Can you make your own spells in Skyrim as well?

Sadly, no. Part of the tradeoff for the revamped magic system was that you can't make your own spells any more.

Mind you this is a first time play through completely organic build. But I pretty much roll through and gut stab fatality most stuff. Only been challenged a few times, Master vampire, Silver Hand Leader with the Giant Axe etc.

Lets see I'm a Werewolf for one but I don't use it much except for fun especially for ripping throats on Silver Hands since that seems properly thematic.

I have full dwarven armor on atm self crafted all improved to superior, all enchanted with buffs like 40% fire resist on my sheild, extra carry on boots, reduced cost restoration and faster magika regen on chest etc. My Skyforge sword is 10 Fire damage +more if on fire, I mostly use that but also have a fire enchanted bow. I have an alternate bow and sword I use to soul trap to keep my soul gems full. I tend to use the Fire Breath Shout in combat becuase it hits like a truck.

And that's pretty much it. Does not seem too special but the 60% Sword damage I think from armsman is pretty crucial. I block when I can. I use power attacks and move away from big strikes. I dodge around a corner and pop out a restoration spell if against a big crowd and hurting. I create potions with alchemy out of spare mats and pop them when I need to resist different magic types or dragons.

I plan to work smithing and enchanting to make myself the best armor and swords I can get by hand. It pleases me to have on armor crafted by my own hand and fits my big Nord blacksmith brute roll play for this character. I pretty much plan on investing in the perk tree's above until they are filled out for this play through.

I'm playing with an xbox 360 controller on my PC and the controls are really well molded to a controller for combat and blocking etc.

*edited out some of the drunken... too much with the beer, football and Skyrim yesterday. >.>

Edited, Nov 14th 2011 9:05am by Shojindo

____________________________

An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

Just picked up the Shout Kynd, which pacifies or scares away animals. TAKE THAT, BEARS.

Well be ready to see The bear resists your shout (or whatever it said right before the bear ate my face) Worked some though. Is there any rhyme or reason to "word" locations? Are there dupes? Two of my characters have the same words but got them in different locations. Well, excluding the first one.

Lost my first horse doing the mage college quest line. It was more than a slightly stupid way for it to get killed but whatever.

The coach is bugged for one of my characters. I select where I want to go and climb into the wagon but the guy just tells me to hurry up and such. Never actually seems to detect me. Means having to fast travel to the nearest known location and then run/ride on horseback the rest of the way to my destination. Sucks a lot!

I lost my horse when a dragon attacked. I dismounted and began fighting, and accidentally hit it with my fire breath. I killed the dragon, and the horse was running away from me so I figured I would just grab it at the stables. Nope, Lydia chased it down and killed it.

From what I've seen, I REALLY need to take up enchanting. A lot of the effects are downright amazing. But that means I need to find a bunch of good gear to destroy first >_<

It's a worthy investment, from what I've seen. Best to do your destruction early on, while you don't really need the benefits. Then you're free to start enchanting pretty much everything you put on.

I don't know about smithing being overpowered, though I haven't done a ton with it yet. As far as I can tell, it'd take a fair bit of grinding to be able to make all the nicer stuff, and at that point I don't know if it's any more overpowered than any other ability you could grind.

I'm playing mostly as a sneaky archer right now, with a smattering of random other abilities tossed in. Sniping with the bow for a guaranteed 2x, and possibly more, is just too good to pass up.

So as expected, sneaking around and 1-shotting people is tons of fun, but I start running into trouble when I can't take people out one by one and end up against 3+ enemies. I also seem to have problems with both types of enemies - melee fighters I can't seem to keep distance on, but when I try to swap to sword + magic for them, I have to chug potions just to keep up. Meanwhile, with magic users, if I try to use archery on them unless I am really careful about staying at a corner and dodging their spells then popping out to shoot, I can get raped really quickly. I've also tried going at them in melee and just beating them down, but that often fails too. I try keeping up lesser ward in my off hand but 75% of the time it just gets broken by any of their spells. Perhaps I need to set up some resistance gear... I just start to wonder if 1) trying to do sneak, archery, destruction, and one-handed all as primary combat skills was too much and 2) should I have maybe not ignored blocking completely? At the very least I should probably go into smithing and work on some actually decent armor (though the bonuses from my current pieces (mostly DB and Thieves' Guild) are pretty hard to give up).

The other issue is that while having a companion is great for being a packmule and also to be a tank, their AI is not the best, they more often than not get in my way, and they're not tanky enough to where they won't die. For now I'm just running without and sometimes I miss having one but a lot of times I don't. I wonder if just summoning an atronarch would be any more useful, but I can't imagine their AI is any better and I don't think I can tell them to wait somewhere if I need to.

Yeah casters can be tough. I have Nord frost resist and a fire resist on my sheild but those ones that play Sith emperor are the worst. The shock damage hurts bad and also drains my meager mana that I try and reserve for resto to top off after fights.

I usually block or dodge the first salvo then sprint charge them down. At least they are squishy if I can close the distance.

____________________________

An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

I wouldn't say smithing is overpowered, but being able to make legendary gear helps a lot. I think maxing this out would be the first step I would take on any new game.

Enchanting is ridiculously easy to level... if you have the soul gems. At lv50 skill, I'm still gaining a level for every 2 items I enchant. Recharging items will raise enchanting skill, but only slightly. Any and all soul gems you find should (in my opinion), be saved for skilling up enchanting until lv100 skill. I was lucky though and found a couple weapons with soul trap on them.

Also, this game caps your level at 50? So we only get 50 perks...? Now I need to figure out if I should continue with this first character then... wish I could reallocate perks on xbox.

So as expected, sneaking around and 1-shotting people is tons of fun, but I start running into trouble when I can't take people out one by one and end up against 3+ enemies. I also seem to have problems with both types of enemies - melee fighters I can't seem to keep distance on, but when I try to swap to sword + magic for them, I have to chug potions just to keep up. Meanwhile, with magic users, if I try to use archery on them unless I am really careful about staying at a corner and dodging their spells then popping out to shoot, I can get raped really quickly. I've also tried going at them in melee and just beating them down, but that often fails too. I try keeping up lesser ward in my off hand but 75% of the time it just gets broken by any of their spells. Perhaps I need to set up some resistance gear... I just start to wonder if 1) trying to do sneak, archery, destruction, and one-handed all as primary combat skills was too much and 2) should I have maybe not ignored blocking completely? At the very least I should probably go into smithing and work on some actually decent armor (though the bonuses from my current pieces (mostly DB and Thieves' Guild) are pretty hard to give up).

Hmm, wonder if I'll start having this problem soon, as that's pretty much the exact build I've been using.